Following yesterday's tip about merging calendars, several people asked why I didn't recommend using Import and Export.

I didn't mention it because it's bad. Easy yes, but it has too many drawbacks and its use is discouraged under most circumstances.

Import and Export are bad because:

• Only visible Outlook items are processed. If you have custom views, custom forms or other hidden items, they won't import and you'll need to recreate them.
• The last modified date is changed to the date of the import or export, which will affect Archiving since it uses the modified date.
• The link between contacts and other Outlook items is broken by import/export. It can be fixed, but it takes about as much time as moving the items would.

Anything stored in a folder, like a custom view 'for this folder only' or a form published to a folder, will move to the new pst when you move or copy the folder. If you move an item, the modified date is not affected and links aren't broken.

When creating a new profile you should always use the old pst. The only exception is when installing Outlook 2003; in most cases you'll want to use the new Unicode format pst which supports unlimited file size and unlimited numbers of items per folder.